EE & S Adventures

After waking on our last morning in the desert we enjoyed an early wander in the dunes.  The wind and light creates many interesting dune shapes, colours and patterns. After breakfast it was back in the 4WD for another few hours of desert driving.  We saw a few interesting sand and rock formations, a few other 4WDs and the odd sign of civilisation here and there... A food stop taken through the car window. This is the real restaurant at the end of the universe. As we drove on we saw a few large hills rising from the desert with flat tops.  I'm not sure how the elements combine to create such hills but they were impressive.  We also started seeing the odd clump of date palms in small wadis where they could get occasional water and some shelter from the wind. Finally in late morning we hit bitumen again near the town of Foum Zguid.  From now it was an easy drive on to Ouarzazate our evening destination. Food hygiene is a lit...

Overnight the wind picked up in the desert enough to have the sand blowing into every nook and cranny when venturing out.  We were very pleased we decided yesterday not to ride the camels out of the desert in the morning.  Two hours on the back of a camel with sand stinging the face is no ones idea of fun.  So after a bumpy and hazy 4WD back to town we spent much of the morning and early afternoon at an old house/riad in Mhamid.  While relaxing we got the chance to play dress ups. By mid afternoon the wind had dropped and it was time to head deeper into the desert.  We quickly left civilisation behind as Hassan expertly found our way through the flat stony desert along a myriad of tiny four wheel drive tracks that appeared and disappeared.  It was clear he knew the desert like the back of his hand having started as a camel herder and guide before moving to 4WDs.   After about one and a half hours we stopped at a Berber well.  Is...

Before leaving Agdez we drove up to the top of a hill on the edge of town to look at the view across the valley to the bleak stony lands beyond.  Ismail said we had plenty of time today so after some driving following the valley, we stopped to go for a walk through the palm forest. The forest was nowhere near as uniform as it looked from the outside.  Under and between the palms there were some ground crops growing (like wheat) and fodder for animals.  We also got to see the range of irrigation ditches that are used to water various parts of the valley when regulation permits.  Apparently each family gets a time window of a few hours to divert water into their channels. Noting the infrequent rains, we got the impression that the Murray Darling basin managers and users could learn a few things about effective collective management of water resources. Not wanting to enter the desert in mid afternoon, we enjoyed a long lunch break before heading to Mhami...

After breakfast we set off up the Dades Gorge for a few kilometres until we came to a spectacular series of hairpin bends where we were one of several tour groups taking photos.  We were happy that Hassan was doing the driving and not us as we first drove up and then back down the gorge. Soon we turned off the paved road and headed into the stony desert to meet some real nomadic Berbers.  Their home was a series of shelters built under the ground to escape the desert heat alongside stone pens where they kept their infant goats safe from predators.  We drank tea (only us as the locals were all observing Ramadan) and gave them our packet of dried apricots as a gift (Ismail said they didn't use or want money).  We also did the goats milk run as a favour, dropping off their milk in the town to save one of the daughters a long trip with their Donkey. Sam meeting one of the young goats Samuel and Ismail looking at the underground house In the afternoon we ...

After our first night in the desert we were up soon after dawn and back on the camels. Quite a lot of our fellow tourists decided they would rather return to civilisation via 4WD rather than another bumpy camel ride but we stuck it out. By mid-morning we were back in the vehicle and off to Tinghir.  After taking in a scenic view of the town and surrounds we stopped to visit a house where several weavers worked on traditional Moroccan carpets.  After viewing about 20 carpets and a short haggle we left with two rugs.             Next stop was Tougdha Gorge.  Ismail told us about the gorge and it's significance to the Berbers.  It features a very prolific spring as the source of the river flowing from the gorge.  It was quite incredible seeing how much water was bubbling up from underground - the resulting stream was impressively large (see the picture below). After lunch we drove on to Dades, passing more ama...